The Todd Family of Longford

Hi there,

Thank you very much for your query to Ireland Reaching Out.

I can direct you to a number of documents for County Longford that might be worth checking:

1641 Book of Survey and Distribution NLI Ms.965

1659 Pender's 'Census'. Repr. (Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997) (Irish Manuscripts Commission, 2002). LDS (Church of Latter Day Saints) Film 924648. And online: Genweb Longford

1726-27 Protestant Householders. This covers a number of areas in Longford. List compiled for the distribution of religious books. National Archives of Ireland M.102

1729 Presbyterian exodus from Co. Longford. Breifny, 1977-78.

1740 Protestants, Shrule & Rathreagh (Longford); Rathaspick (Westmeath). RCBL (Representative Church Body Library) GS 2/7/3/25

1747-1806 Freeholders. Registration book. National Archives of Ireland M.2745

Best of luck with your research.

Kind regards,

Sinead Cooney

Hello from Longford,

Your enquiry is very interesting. Unfortunately, I cannot give you specific information to help your research since there are few genealogical records surviving from that period. Most church records in Longford date from after 1800.

However, if you do an online search for 'Todd' and 'Longford' you will find references to the family of Mary Todd, wife of President Abraham Lincoln. Her great-grandfather, David Levi Todd, is said to have been born in Longford and immigrated through Pennsylvania to Kentucky. The lack of sources on this side makes it difficult to confirm that information, though there is no reason to discount it.

The account of the 'Presbyterian exodus' of 1729, referred to by Sinead (above), does mention that Robert Todd died on the voyage. The voyage in question was organised by Col. Charles Clinton and involved about 150 Presbyterians leaving Longford to begin a new life in the USA. Clinton chartered a ship for the group and they sailed from Dublin on 20 May 1729. A typescript of his diary survives, though two articles based on it arrive at different figures for deaths on the journey; however they were in the region of 90. The survivors landed at Cape Cod on 4 October. Clinton's son George went on to become vice-president, 1804-'12. Many of the group worshipped in a church at Corboy. There is still a small Presbyterian community in that area.

The members of the group seem to have come from the same area of Co. Longford - generally in the middle and northern parts. Most were of Scottish descent.

Good luck with your search.

Martin Morris

There seems to be no source for the legend that the Todds of New Jersey came from Longford.    

However, we do know, using DNA, that the James Todd 1729 and David Todd b 1731 of Hunterdon Co NJ  are not related closely to the Andrew d 1781, James d 1781 and Willliam todd d 1760 who lived in Somerset County, NJ.  The former may indeed have come in 1749 as legend states, but the others came by 1735.        James Todd b 1729 moved over to Somerset County as did his nephew JOhn Todd 1755-1820.   They intermarried and thus confused the family historians who linked both groups togetther into the same family.

Richard McMurtry

Oops!

Big Y DNA reveals that John Todd 1755-1820 is not a nephew of David Todd 1731 and John Todd 1729 of Hunterdon Co.   He is more distant kin but more can not be said.

In previous thread, the Quaker John Todd d 1774/1775 of Chester Co is erroneously said to be the father of JOhn Todd 1755-1820.   This is nonsense.  They didn't even live in the same state!   John Todd of Chester Co comes from the County Armagh Todds.  John Todd d1755-1820 comes from the County Antrim Todds.

Richard McMurtry